Britney, Anna Nicole and the Future of America

Rob and Laura Petrie walked into the bedroom, doffed their robes, revealing full-length cotton pajamas, gave each other a peck on the lips and retired for the night, in separate beds. That was the public state of our morals in the fifties and early sixties. The Dick Van Dyke Show was one of the top shows in the Nielson ratings during a time when America's standards of decency were suitable entertainment for every age group.

Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz had a zany but loving relationship which was always humorous without ever being licentious. Parents could watch television with their children and have no fear that their innocence would be stolen with the turn of a knob. Forty years later, we have "advanced" to scantily clad women and men jumping into bed with (and on) each other and leaving little to the imagination about their lustful purposes.

Those with the least amount of talent use vulgarity to shock their way to fame and fortune. Partially nude bodies, undulating in paroxysms of feigned passion was once restricted to X-rated movies on the side streets of the big cities. Now, it's available with a stroke of the remote or thrust into plain view with a click of the mouse.

Sadly, some of our children look up to the likes of pop star Britney Spears, who, in her late twenties, already has a tragically sordid career that overshadows her musical fame. A few months ago, she was ordered to undergo random drug and alcohol testing and to attend parenting counseling as a result of some chaotic behavior that tended to endanger the two children with which she shares custody with hubby, Kevin Federline. A few days later, she was officially charged with misdemeanor hit and run driving without a license. If convicted, she could face a year in jail.

Soon afterward, because of more erratic behavior, she lost custody to Federline. As recently as last week, she was taken from her home on a stretcher, hospitalized for appearing to be under the influence of an unknown substance and held for psychiatric evaluation. This severely troubled young woman seems to be going the way of Anna Nicole Smith and the media follows the story as if it was hot on the trail of Osama bin laden.

If Mary Tyler Moore or Lucille Ball had been involved in just one of the aforementioned incidents, their careers would have been over. It has only taken a generation to rip away the moral underpinnings of a nation and put its culture in a state of total collapse. Such destruction doesn't occur overnight; it is a cumulative process that depends upon increasing amounts of toleration by those who strike a conciliatory pose in their attempt to be "open-minded."

Yet appeasement has never worked, because the appetite for ever-increasing amounts of degeneracy is drug-like in its compulsion. Those who live in the narcotic-induced world of Hollywood-style eroticism have altered their minds and desecrated their bodies in ways that are unimaginable to the traditional American. Because of our strongly held standards of propriety, we have become the prime targets for this twisted coterie of proselytizing prostitutes. The only thing that stands between them and the complete disintegration of the value system that made us the greatest country on earth is you and me.

Obviously, Ms. Spears is merely one small example of the moral decline, but her popularity among the younger generation has the potential to attract mass emulation. And each time we encounter the gradual chipping away at our foundation, we are witnessing the inexorable decomposition of our way of life. No one person is going to precipitate the end of an empire.

However, take heed, because the barbarians are at the gates. They're shaking their fists, spewing their epithets, and displaying their naked wares in bold defiance of those who seek to embrace the eternal verities of love, honor, and divine guidance.

We are face to face with the oldest war in the history of the human race: the struggle between good and evil. Meanwhile, our enemies are salivating, for they, more than anyone, know that America is mighty enough to withstand attack from without; our vulnerability can only be exploited from within. With that in mind, we are indeed fortunate to have so many dedicated religious practitioners from coast to coast, providing moral guidance to those who have been slouching toward Gomorrah for some time now.

We may never get Rob and Laura back into separate beds, but perhaps the media who so richly share in the bounty of America could begin to think seriously about the direction in which they are impelling our culture.

Bob Weir is a former detective sergeant in the New York City Police Department. He is the executive editor of The News Connection in Highland Village, Texas. Email Bob.

Rob and Laura Petrie walked into the bedroom, doffed their robes, revealing full-length cotton pajamas, gave each other a peck on the lips and retired for the night, in separate beds. That was the public state of our morals in the fifties and early sixties. The Dick Van Dyke Show was one of the top shows in the Nielson ratings during a time when America's standards of decency were suitable entertainment for every age group.

Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz had a zany but loving relationship which was always humorous without ever being licentious. Parents could watch television with their children and have no fear that their innocence would be stolen with the turn of a knob. Forty years later, we have "advanced" to scantily clad women and men jumping into bed with (and on) each other and leaving little to the imagination about their lustful purposes.

Those with the least amount of talent use vulgarity to shock their way to fame and fortune. Partially nude bodies, undulating in paroxysms of feigned passion was once restricted to X-rated movies on the side streets of the big cities. Now, it's available with a stroke of the remote or thrust into plain view with a click of the mouse.

Sadly, some of our children look up to the likes of pop star Britney Spears, who, in her late twenties, already has a tragically sordid career that overshadows her musical fame. A few months ago, she was ordered to undergo random drug and alcohol testing and to attend parenting counseling as a result of some chaotic behavior that tended to endanger the two children with which she shares custody with hubby, Kevin Federline. A few days later, she was officially charged with misdemeanor hit and run driving without a license. If convicted, she could face a year in jail.

Soon afterward, because of more erratic behavior, she lost custody to Federline. As recently as last week, she was taken from her home on a stretcher, hospitalized for appearing to be under the influence of an unknown substance and held for psychiatric evaluation. This severely troubled young woman seems to be going the way of Anna Nicole Smith and the media follows the story as if it was hot on the trail of Osama bin laden.

If Mary Tyler Moore or Lucille Ball had been involved in just one of the aforementioned incidents, their careers would have been over. It has only taken a generation to rip away the moral underpinnings of a nation and put its culture in a state of total collapse. Such destruction doesn't occur overnight; it is a cumulative process that depends upon increasing amounts of toleration by those who strike a conciliatory pose in their attempt to be "open-minded."

Yet appeasement has never worked, because the appetite for ever-increasing amounts of degeneracy is drug-like in its compulsion. Those who live in the narcotic-induced world of Hollywood-style eroticism have altered their minds and desecrated their bodies in ways that are unimaginable to the traditional American. Because of our strongly held standards of propriety, we have become the prime targets for this twisted coterie of proselytizing prostitutes. The only thing that stands between them and the complete disintegration of the value system that made us the greatest country on earth is you and me.

Obviously, Ms. Spears is merely one small example of the moral decline, but her popularity among the younger generation has the potential to attract mass emulation. And each time we encounter the gradual chipping away at our foundation, we are witnessing the inexorable decomposition of our way of life. No one person is going to precipitate the end of an empire.

However, take heed, because the barbarians are at the gates. They're shaking their fists, spewing their epithets, and displaying their naked wares in bold defiance of those who seek to embrace the eternal verities of love, honor, and divine guidance.

We are face to face with the oldest war in the history of the human race: the struggle between good and evil. Meanwhile, our enemies are salivating, for they, more than anyone, know that America is mighty enough to withstand attack from without; our vulnerability can only be exploited from within. With that in mind, we are indeed fortunate to have so many dedicated religious practitioners from coast to coast, providing moral guidance to those who have been slouching toward Gomorrah for some time now.

We may never get Rob and Laura back into separate beds, but perhaps the media who so richly share in the bounty of America could begin to think seriously about the direction in which they are impelling our culture.

Bob Weir is a former detective sergeant in the New York City Police Department. He is the executive editor of The News Connection in Highland Village, Texas. Email Bob.